Cape Times 2023-02-28

Eskom has estimated that it could take up to several weeks to restore the electricity grid after a total blackout FORMER Eskom CEO André de Ruyter has defended in an affidavit the implementation of rotational load shedding, saying that a total electricity blackout would have a catastrophic impact on the economy, and the social unrest that could follow. This comes as Eskom has been implementing rotational power cuts of up to stage 6 in a bid to save the national grid from complete collapse, and resulting in a national blackout. In a 153-page affidavit filed in a matter between the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and 17 others, De Ruyter said load shedding was implemented to save the national electricity grid from complete collapse. De Ruyter said if supply and demand…

MURRAY & Roberts’s (M&R) share price sank 5.28% yesterday after releasing a trading update showing it expects to report a major loss for the six months to December 31, after it encountered liquidity problems last year. The interim headline loss per share is expected to slump to between 323 to 321 cents per share for the interim period compared with 13c per share profit at the same time, the year before. Shareholders have taken a cold bath this year as M&R’s financial position tightened – the R2.51 that it closed at yesterday is well below the R12.60 that the share traded at a year ago. The diluted headline loss per share from continuing operations was expected to fall to between 33c to 28c, compared with a 29c profit a…

THE “OSCARS” of the investment industry, the annual Raging Bull Awards, hosted by Business Report’s sister publication, Personal Finance, take place this evening in Cape Town. Reverting to tradition, after two years of being a virtual presentation owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event takes the form of a lavish gala dinner at Pigalle restaurant in Green Point. The special guest speaker at tonight’s ceremony is Edward Kies- wetter, commissioner of the SA Revenue Service. The Raging Bull Awards ceremony has been a key event on the South African investment industry calendar since its inception in 1997. Martin Hesse, editor of Personal Finance, says the awards are of special interest to unit trust companies and investment industry bodies, but are chiefly aimed at the individual investor. “The investment universe has…

LIBERTY Two Degrees (L2D), which owns Melrose Arch, Nelson Mandela Square and Sandton City among its retail and office assets, continued to recover and is paying out a 100% full year distribution of 36.47 cents per share, 6.95% above 2021. The lifting of Covid-19 restrictions last year buoyed consumer confidence, travel and tourism and general sentiment in the year to December 31, 2022, and L2D’s operational metrics showed good growth, with portfolio turnover and foot count exceeding 2019 (pre-Covid) levels, the group said yesterday. The share price gained 1.16% on the JSE yesterday to close at R4.35. The portfolio generated a 21.9% turnover increase and there was 24% growth in foot count. Higher demand for retail space resulted in improved retail occupancy and positive leasing outcomes, CEO…

from page 1 “The societal demand for those of us who are progressives is to impose our standards and values on the racially prejudiced individuals instead of merely reacting to their actions,” Nyembezi said. “We must accept that the occasional flare-up is not just something to be extinguished, but rather an indication that there is a larger undiagnosed issue underneath. The demand on the government and the citizens is not to expect racism to vanquish overnight, but to collectively commit to the process of constantly finessing the progressive realisation of a non-racial society. Better as a nation to be a work in progress than a prematurely ended project to build and nurture our rainbow nation.”…

from page 1 the biological father of the unborn baby. “The complainant was to all intents and purposes a young child. “She had lost her primary attachment figure less than a year before the rape. “She would thus have been even more emotionally and psychologically dependent on the appellant. “Given his flat denial of any involvement, and the fact that the pregnancy was only discovered, and the rape revealed, 17 weeks later, coupled with the complainant’s intellectual impairment, there is no basis from which an inference can be drawn that there was no physical injury to her, or that she was not threatened or subjected to some form of violence,” said Judge Cloete. “It was common cause during the trial that such is the complainant’s impairment that she was unable…